Wish you had more reviews and better ratings? Wish people left more comments? Look no further… In this article, we show you how you can exchange social actions with other SERPed members using our Social Exchanger tool.

This tool brings all SERPed members together and allows them to help each other by exchanging social actions, including but not limited to:

– Reviews & Ratings: product reviews, local business reviews…
– Comments: YouTube comments, Facebook comments…
– Questions: Quora questions…
– Connect: like a Facebook page, follow a Twitter or Instagram account…
– Simple Actions: share/like a Facebook post, tweet/retweet a message, like an Instagram image…
– Others: anything that does not fit into the categories above

What is Social Exchanger?

The idea behind Social Exchanger is to team up with other SERPed members to help you achieve your goals faster. In short, you perform tasks other SERPed members created, so you earn points and can then create your own tasks that other SERPed members will perform for you. This is pretty much a de-regulated marketplace. It is only limited by your imagination.

The Idea Behind Social Exchanger

There are many things you can do with Social Exchanger. You can use this system to achieve amazing results if you use it to its full potential. Think about it as an on-tap ‘crowd actions' where a team of people form an unstoppable wave.

Since we put the tool live, I created a task asking for a Facebook like (*cough cough*, like our Facebook page) and comment. In exchange, I gave one point. I asked for 25 people to do this. The task (25 likes and comments) was completed within 24 hours!

The key to this is rewarding fairly. No one is forced to do the tasks you create. This means the easier it is to execute the task, and the more points provided (so the harder it is, the more points you should offer), the more likely members will take on and complete your task.

Creating a Task

Creating a task in Social Exchanger is super easy. All you need to do is to fill out a short form. Make sure you write clear instructions so the people who take your task know exactly what to do.

You can also load previously created tasks, so if you want to re-open a task you already created in the past, you don't have to enter all the information again.

There is also an option that allows you to specify a keyword and a search engine, so the people who take your task can search for your page on Google (thus generating organic traffic). When users copy and paste your link, that is direct traffic. By getting to your page through a search engine, you can ensure those members don't leave any footprints.

Your task will then appear in the list of tasks available to take.

Performing a Task

If you want to take on a task someone else created, simply click on the ‘View Task' button. Read the instructions and click the ‘Assign Task' button.

As mentioned before, performing tasks for other SERPed members will earn you points that you can then use to create your own tasks.

Please note that you don't have to perform the tasks yourself. You can assign this job to another staff member or your Virtual Assistant. To create a sub-account for this person, go to your ‘Profile' page. Then go to the ‘Team' tab and click the ‘Add New Team Account' button. This is where you can create a sub-account and choose what tools this person should have access to.

Social Exchanger – Demo Video

Watch this video to see Social Exchanger in action:

Not a member yet? Click here to sign up now…

Already a member? Log in now and give Social Exchanger a try!

If you have any questions or feedback, don't hesitate to leave a comment below.

Remember you can also find us on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIN.

The post Exchange Reviews, Ratings, Comments & More With Other Members appeared first on Serped.com.

Today we'd like to introduce you to our new rank tracker called “Rank Tracker”. We didn't get very creative with the name, but we actually made a lot of improvements to this tool, so make sure you keep reading.

In SERPed v2, our rank tracker was called “Global Tracking” and allowed you to track Google, Bing and Yahoo rankings in the countries of your choice, for both desktop and mobile.

In SERPed v3, “Rank Tracker” replaced “Global Tracking” and now allows you to track Google, Bing and Yahoo rankings in the countries of your choice of course, as well as the cities and ZIP codes of your choice, for both desktop and mobile.

Overview

If you open Rank Tracker, you will land on the Overview page, where you can see the list of sites you are currently tracking, as well as your position breakdown, biggest gainers and biggest losers. This page is an overview of all your rankings.

From here, you can either click on a site in the list, or select a site from the drop-down menu located at the top left. This menu will help you easily navigate between the different sites you track.

Keyword View

In the Keyword View section, you will see the list of keywords you are currently tracking, with their respective positions, ranking pages and search volumes, as well as useful graphs, including a mini history graph, your position breakdown and more.

Keyword

If you click on a keyword, you will be directed to a page dedicated to that keyword, with a detailed history graph, as well as more information about the ranking page, including Moz and Majestic metrics, social signals…

You can also see a history graph with competitor rankings over time, as well as the Fantastic 13 graph, which we will talk about later.

Add Keywords

To track a new keyword, simply click the + button located at the top right of the screen. This will open a modal, where you can enter your keyword(s), select one or several search engine(s), enter location(s), set a frequency and more.

Update: it is now possible to edit the check period of keywords! For example, imagine you asked the system to check the rankings of a particular keyword every 7 days… If you want to increase the frequency of checks, you can now do so by clicking the “Edit Check Period” option in this menu. Your credit spends will automatically adjust.

Graphs

From the left menu, you can access the Graphs section, where you can find plenty of useful graphs, including the Average Position graph, Estimated Traffic graph, Search Visibility graph and % in Top 10 graph.

Potential Traffic

From this menu, you can also access the Potential Traffic section, where you can modify your past positions and have an idea of the traffic the site could have received.

Fantastic 13

Make sure you check the Fantastic 13 section, in which we show the ranking fluctuations of the Top 13 results for all the keywords you track.

This feature is reserved to Ultimate and Enterprise members. If you are a Premium member, check it out anyway as you have access to sample data and can see how powerful this feature is.

Reports

Last but not least, you can generate reports from the Reports section, as the name suggests. You can generate 2 types of reports:

• Quick Public Reports: reports you can generate in just a few clicks and easily share with your clients – these reports can include your company logo and contact details of course;
• Rankings Reports: more detailed reports you can build (using our new report builder, which we'll talk about later) and even schedule, so your clients receive them at the frequency of your choice.

Here is an example of quick public report:

What are you waiting for? Log in now and give our new rank tracker a try… You can find it under the RANK TRACKING section in the TOOLS menu.

Not a member yet? Click here to sign up now…

Next time, we'll talk about “Local Tracker”, which replaced “Local Tracking”. This other rank tracking tool allows you to track your local rankings, also known as the Google Map Pack. This tool doesn't track sites but local businesses listed in Google My Business.

If you have questions or feedback, don't hesitate to leave a comment below. If you experience issues, please get in touch with our friendly support team.

Remember you can also find us on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIN.

The post Rank Tracker 3.0 ⏭️ New Interface, More Data & Graphs, Seamless Tracking appeared first on Serped.com.

We spent almost 18 months imagining, designing, developing and testing SERPed.net v3. Site Manager, which is our central tool, took us about 2 months.

We wanted to make sure it provides you with everything you need to manage and monitor your SEO projects, so you can keep an eye on your metrics, backlinks, keywords and competitors, as well as run detailed SEO audits…

Here is what's new in Site Manager:

Add New Site Process

First, as you may have noticed, the Add New Site process has been greatly improved. You can now easily go back and forth, as well as connect to Google My Business (GMB) in case the site you are adding is of a local business.

Connecting to GMB, or simply adding the Business Name and Phone Number (as shown in Google), will unlock a few perks like the ability to track local rankings in Local Tracker.

You can even add the Business Name and Phone Number of your competitors, in case you want to track their local rankings as well.

Manage Site

Under this tab, you can now see a preview of your keywords, as well as the Moz and Majestic metrics, for the main page of course, but also for inner pages. That's a quick and easy way to monitor the health of the site and most important pages.

If you click on a number, you will see progress over time, as shown below.

Page Stats

Under this tab, you can see more data about the main page, as you already know, including the SERPed Rank, IP address, social signals, plenty of data from Moz and Majestic…

Backlinks Profile

Under this tab, you can now see the Spam Score of each backlink, as well as its source, so you can see if it was found by Moz or Majestic.

It also lists the backlinks you added to Backlinks Manager, even if they haven't been found by Moz or Majestic yet.

Please note that you can now modify the appearance of tables, by using the Table Column Configuration option (cog icon located at the top right of tables).

Keywords

This is a new tab where you can find your list of keywords and phrases, as well as your positions in the search engines (if you previously added them in Rank Tracker or Local Tracker), their search volume, cost-per-click, pay-per-click competition…

Just so everything is 100% clear, this list combines the keywords you added in Site Manager, as well as the keywords you added in Rank Tracker and Local Tracker, so it's a single interface, for all your keywords.

Competitors

Under this tab, as you already know, you can keep an eye the metrics, backlinks and social signals of your competitors and easily compare theirs to yours.

Just like in the Add New Site process, you can add their Business Name and Phone Number (as shown in Google), to unlock a few perks like the ability to track local rankings in Local Tracker.

SEO Audit

We have completely revamped the SEO Audit section, with new tests, more data and more graphs. A huge improvement, so make sure you check it out…

There are now no less than 14 sections:

• URL
• Title & Description
• Images
• Headings
• Content
• Code
• Security
• Speed
• Mobile
• Social
• Traffic
• Metrics
• Tasks
• Summary

We have added plenty of new checks and recommendations, including on-page checks, improved security and speed tests…

You can now specify a keyword, for more accurate on-page recommendations, as well as a competitor, which will result in a split review, so you can easily compare one site versus another.

Last but not least, you can now add suggested tasks to your SERPed Calendar, with the click of a mouse.

These audit reports are for yourself or your clients, but remember you can also provide free audit reports to your site or blog visitors, in exchange for their contact details, using Site Auditor Pro, which is located under the Client Acquisition section.

Haven't checked out the new Site Manager yet? Click here to log in now…

Not yet a member of SERPed? Click here to join now…

Remember you can include Site Manager data when generating reports with Site Reports, our new report builder, which we'll talk about in another article.

If you have questions or feedback, don't hesitate to leave a comment below. If you experience issues, please get in touch with our friendly support team.

Remember you can also find us on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIN.

The post Introducing Site Manager 3.0 – More Data, Better Visualization & New SEO Audit appeared first on Serped.com.

SERPed 3.0 is live and with it come plenty of new features. Today, we'll closely look at the new Site Explorer, which comes with a new layout of course, but also more data.

First, a quick reminder… As explained in our introduction to SERPed 3.0, we switched from 3-page structure (search page, results page and history page) to a 2-page structure (search modal, results page and history page). W hen you open Site Explorer, you don't see the search page anymore, but the history page.

To run a new search, simply click the + button located at the top right of the page.

Here is how the new search form looks like:

Once you have run your first search using the new search form, you will quickly see a few new things.

Spam Score

Moz recently made some major changes to the way they evaluate spam and came up with the Spam Score, which is percentage-based. You can see the Spam Score of the site or domain you search for in the Overview section, as well as the Spam Score of backlinks considered as spammy by Moz in the Spam Analysis section.

Those links are the kind of links you should either delete (if you can) or disavow via Google's Search Console.

Topical Trust Flow

As part of our will to offer you more value, at no extra cost, we included the Majestic Topical Trust Flow in the Overview section of Site Explorer, which means that you can now see what kind of pages link to the site or domain you search for.

Backlinks Profile

The View Backlinks section has been updated as well. You can now see the Page Title of each backlink, which is data that was not available in the previous version.

You can now also customize tables, so you only see what interests you the most. For example, let's imagine you are not interested in the Page Title, you can simply click on the cog icon (Table Column Configuration) at the top right, untick Page Title, and click APPLY…

As you can see below, the Page Title column is now gone, leaving more room to other columns.

We also greatly improved the way tables, graphs and other visuals look, as you can see below.

Past Improvements

Prior to releasing SERPed 3.0, we made some other improvements to Site Explorer, including:

Link Velocity

To put in simple words, Link Velocity is a measure of how many new backlinks your website gets over time. Ideally, your backlinks should grow with time. A healthy link velocity graph is an upward curve.

With the Link Velocity section, you can keep an eye on the over time growth of backlinks to your website and take preventive measures if you notice anything fishy.

Link Age

According to Search Engine Journal, link age is a ranking factor. It is considered as a factor of trust.

With the Link Age section, you can see the number of backlinks by year and by number of years. The intuitive graphs give a quick insight into your backlinks profile.

Anchor Language

With the Anchor Language section, you can see the language of anchors used to link back to your site. Thanks to this data, you can find out what the predominant language is on the pages that link back to your website.

This is the kind of section you should go to when searching for aged domains for your blog network for example, as it helps you find out what language they were using in the past.

Haven't tried the new Site Explorer yet? Click here to log in now…

Not yet a member of SERPed? Click here to join now…

Remember you can include Site Explorer data when generating reports with Site Reports, our new report builder, which we'll talk about in another article.

If you have questions or feedback, don't hesitate to leave a comment below. If you experience issues, please get in touch with our friendly support team.

Remember you can also find us on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIN.

The post Introducing Site Explorer 3.0 – More Insights, Informed Decisions & Better ROI 🌍 appeared first on Serped.com.

As you may know, our other site, SERPed.net, is an all-in-one suite of SEO tools.

Around 18 months ago we started working on version 3 of the app. This was a huge project, and the work continues with a full team working flat out each day. We are finally ready to unveil this new version of the app. Starting… Today!

We wrote a notification post for members (you can/should read it here) with a bunch of information on what to expect. Today, the new version was pushed live.

Intro video explaining the overview of the app:

Note: This is only the start of a new era here at SERPed. This v3 was vital to allow us the framework in which to continue massive improvements and additions to the suite. It only gets better from here!

We hope you enjoy it. Any questions, you can submit a ticket or catch us on live chat.

Not yet a valued member of SERPed.net? See what you are missing out on by clicking here to learn more

The post SERPed.net v3 rolls out today appeared first on Serped.com.

A lot of marketers view social media and SEO as two distinctive marketing channels. Because of this, many don’t consider how one channel can help the other. But adopting this way of thinking can be a huge mistake.

Especially when there's reason to believe that social media campaigns can have a positive impact on SEO rankings.

This post is going to provide some insight into exactly how this can happen. If your SEO campaigns are struggling right now, you’ll soon learn how to improve things, with the help of social media.  

Let’s begin

Does Social Media Have a Direct Impact on SEO?

There’s a lot of debate about whether social media has a direct impact on SEO. Google certainly seems to pay attention to social media when delivering search results. For instance, when you’re searching Google, you’ll find that there are some results pulled directly from social media websites.

If you take a look at the results below, you’ll notice that the latest Tweets from the company ‘Wendy’s’ is shown in the search listings. Though this is a relatively simple search, it shows that Google has some interest at least in social media.

The official word from Google is that social media activity has little impact on the ranking of a website. But research does show that there’s some correlation between a web site's popularity on social media and how well it’s ranking. The graph below is an excellent example of this.

Source

As you can see, the websites that rank highly, tend to have the most substantial social media presence.

Now, there’s a chance that this might be a coincidence. There’s also a chance that this makes sense, if you consider that the websites with high rankings might naturally be marketing hard on all fronts.

If they’re aware of the benefits of social media, they might also recognize the benefits of SEO; hence they may pursue an SEO strategy that produces good rankings. In other words, they understand the importance of marketing and thus they have positive marketing stats on all relevant platforms.

So whether social media has a direct impact on rankings is unclear. But there’s plenty of evidence to suggest that social media has an indirect effect on the way Google ranks a website.

For instance, if you have a solid SEO strategy in place, then a solid social media strategy can help take things to the next level. Google values brands, and if you a substantial social media presence, it shows Google that your website represents a brand. Following, this there’s a chance that they’ll give your site preference in the search listings, for certain kinds of terms.

Brands instill a sense of trust and this means that the people clicking on the website of a brand are likely going to have a good experience.

Google wants to provide it’s users with the best user experience possible, thus highlighting one of the reasons they tend to give brands a preference. Strong brands are not ‘fly by night’ companies and they have a lot riding on maintaining a good reputation.

In fact, here are some quotes from the top people at Google, talking about the importance of brands.

Source

Branded Searches and How They Impact SEO

Branded searches are essentially searches that include the name of a brand, in the search. If you’re able to improve your social media standing, you’ll be able to increase the number of branded searches related to your website.

Here’s a great study on how branded searches can impact SEO results. Below is a chart that highlights a campaign wherein a company aimed to improve their branded searches.

Source

This next chart, shows how rankings changed, as a result of this increase in branded searches.

Source

As you can see, there is a definite improvement in results, as a result of the increase in branded searches.

It’s worth noting that some of these results only improved for the duration of the exercise. But some of the improvements lasted of a while after the experiment. Of course, nothing is stopping you from taking steps to maintain branded searches over an extended period.

In any case, the whole point of this section is to show that branded searches can improve your SEO results. Thus, if you can use social media to increase the branded searches for your business, you’ll be able to improve SEO rankings. Whether, these results stick, though, is another matter and something you'll need to test.  

Building out Your Social Media Presence

The first thing you’ll want to do is create a social media account on all the major platforms. Such platforms include Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube. You don’t have to build a huge following right away on these platforms, but having this large presence can help establish your brand.

When setting up your Facebook page for your business, make sure that it is a ‘Business Page.’ When you do this, people will then be able to leave reviews related to your business. These social media reviews will then be visible in the search engine listings. Here’s an example of such a listing.

As you can see, the search listing still has a feature that includes the ratings of the business. If someone then performs a search for your business, these reviews could mean the difference between them clicking on your listing, or a competitors listing, especially since the reviews are eye-catching.

It’s also worth considering if you can set up a Google My Business account.

Though this doesn’t relate directly to social media, it can help strengthen the power of your brand.  

The reason for this is that it makes it easier for people to leave reviews for your business. These reviews will also give Google some indication on the strength of your brand and the general sentiment towards your company.

There’s no official word on whether this has an impact on your business, yet there’s no reason to believe that Google would ignore a company that has a lot of positive reviews. As mentioned social media can impact SEO, because of the way it strengthens your brand. Thus anything else you can do to aid that is likely welcome.

Building a Buzz on Social Media

Once you’ve established a basic presence on social media, you then need to figure out how you’re going to build some buzz. Perhaps the most useful thing you can do is to create some content.

If your production ability is limited, focusing on one form of content is better than focusing on multiple forms. With that said, if you can only focus on one kind of content, you’ll probably want to focus on video content.

That’s because video content works across many platforms. You can post it on Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, and Instagram. Text content, though, can probably be only shared via links and this isn’t going to make your content very engaging.

An interesting thing to note here is that you’re doing this all in the name of developing some brand awareness.

The content you’re trying to create doesn’t need to generate sales directly. Your content should educate people, tell them a story or entertain them in some way or another. If you can do all these at the same time, you likely have some ROI positive content on your hands.

Suppose you run a shoe company and you want to develop some brand awareness content based on your latest shoe. You could create some content that tells the story of how this latest shoe went from idea to physical product.

When you create this content, you can then ‘push’ it using ads. Because there is so much YouTube Ad inventory, you can get a lot of exposure at relatively low cost.

Here’s an example of such a campaign.

This video is primarily designed to be an educational video that is intended to inform it’s audience. Following this campaign, the company managed to achieve an 18% increase in product searches.

If you take into account everything we’ve discussed concerning branded searches, this is evidence on how social media can impact SEO

Here’s another example, that comes from the CDC.

They ran a campaign designed to highlight the dangers of opioids. The campaign was promoted using six-second bumper ads.

Even though the videos only lasted for six seconds, the campaign produced a remarkable 46% uptick in searches related to ‘opioids.’

Thus, once again, it’s clear to see how this kind of campaign can produce improvements in SEO rankings.

Let’s take a look at some examples from Facebook.

Here’s a campaign from Trentino, which is essentially the tourist board for a region in Italy called Trentino.

As you can see in the graphic above, the campaign managed to produce an 18.4% increase in organic search traffic.

If you take into account everything we’ve discussed concerning branded searches, this is again, evidence of how social media can produce an improvement in SEO results. This increase in branded searches is a potential sign to Google that the company has a strong brand, and evidence that they’re a company to be trusted.

Conclusion

So, does social media impact SEO rankings? Well, it’s hard to say, because there’s no official word on whether it does. But, it’s clear that Google does value brands and with the help of social media, you can show Google that your company has a strong brand.

In this post, we’ve explored some of the ways you can use social media to strengthen your brand. Ultimately, it comes down to creating content and then getting that content in front of a lot of people.

You can use ads to do that, if your content isn’t able to do that on its own, as a result of being shared. It shouldn’t cost you a significant amount to do this, because you’re going to run brand awareness ads, and those kinds of ads tend to be cheaper.

With all that said, if you can consistently do this, there’s reason to believe that your SEO rankings will benefit as a result of your efforts.

The post Social Media for SEO: How to use Social Media to power your SEO strategy in 2019 appeared first on Serped.com.

Generating leads for an SEO agency can be tough. How are you supposed to find clients that will pay you what you deserve? What can you do to make sure you have a steady stream of clients?

Sure, generating leads can be a challenge. With the help of LinkedIn, though, you just might be able to make things easier on yourself.

After all, 79% of B2B Marketers say LinkedIn is an effective source for generating leads. But if you want to experience this kind of success on the platform, you need to know what you’re doing.

Fortunately, generating leads on LinkedIn is not as complicated as you might think.

In fact, keep reading, and you’ll learn the strategies you can use to generate SEO leads using LinkedIn, so your agency will thrive and grow.

Let’s begin!

Ideal Customer Profile: Define Your Ideal Client

In this post, we’re going to take a look at the various ways you can use LinkedIn to generate clients. But if you are going to succeed with these strategies, you need to be extremely clear on the kind of person that represents your ideal client.

If you are unable to do this, you will struggle to gain traction with the methods we’re going to cover.

One way you could define your ideal client, is by creating something known as a Buyer Persona. However, because we’re dealing with LinkedIn, a better method might be to use the targeting settings on the LinkedIn Ads platform.

To do this, login into LinkedIn, click on the ‘Work’ button and then select ‘Advertise.’

Then pick anyone of the ad formats, until you get to the section where you are able to adjust the targeting settings.

You should then see a screen similar to the one below.

You need to think about defining your ideal client, in relation to all of the fields shown above. If you do this, it will be easier to use LinkedIn as a means of finding and reaching your ideal clients.

Once you’ve done this, you can then think about exactly how you are going to gain the attention your ideal client.

LinkedIn for Content Marketing: Take the Content Approach

One way you can generate leads is by creating content.

But you aren’t creating this content for your blog – you’re creating it for the LinkedIn Publisher platform.

If you publish content using the LinkedIn Publish platform, your connections and followers will see your content. They may even receive notifications, whenever your content is published.

If your content seems to be generating a lot of engagement it might be shown to people outside of your connections and followers. This means that a good piece of content can provide you with excellent levels of visibility.

You can publish content, by going to your newsfeed and then clicking on the ‘write an article’ button.

You will then see this screen. You can write or ‘paste’ your content here.

If you want to great results with this approach, there are a few things you need to keep in mind.

For one, you need to make sure you have enough connections.

If you do not have enough connections, find people that might be worth connecting with, using the LinkedIn search bar. Make sure the people you reach out to, align with the parameters you defined earlier regarding your ideal audience.

If you are using a premium version of LinkedIn, use the ‘advanced search’ option. These settings will make it easier to find people who are an extremely close representation of your ideal client.

Once you’ve amassed at least 100 connections, go about producing content for the platform.

Make sure you create content that is high-quality and better than what competitors might produce. Provide a perspective or an insight that helps your target audience solve a problem. Alternatively, create content that helps your target market think differently about solving a particular problem.

Make sure your connection number is consistently growing. This will ensure you are reaching more and more relevant people, every time you publish content. This can sometimes happen naturally. But if it isn’t, be sure to keep reaching out to people that would be worth connecting with.

You also need to focus be consistent. Otherwise you will not be able to stand out amongst all of the noise that bombards people when they’re on LinkedIn.

LinkedIn Ads: Take the Paid Approach

You can also generate SEO leads on LinkedIn, by running paid ad campaigns.

There are a number of different ad products on the platform. Let’s take a look at each of these ad formats and how they work.

One ad format, is the Sponsored Content Ad. .  

With this ad format, you will be able to get yourself into the feeds of your target audience. Even if they do not follow your company page and/or they aren’t a connection.

This ad format gives you the chance to market to your target audience in a non-invasive way. It also allows you to educate your target audience, increasing the odds that they’ll reach out to you and ask for help.  

You can also use videos when running LinkedIn Sponsored Content ads.

Here’s an example of a Sponsored Content Ad – 

LinkedIn provides a Gallery, where you can check out examples of effective sponsored content ads.

If you are using this ad format, think about promoting case studies. Alternatively, run ads that educate your target audience on how they can solve a problem they’re facing. You can identify such problems, by taking a look reviewing the Buyer’s Journey of your past clients.

An example of such a problem might be how to reduce marketing costs.

Your ideal clients might be interested in reducing marketing costs, but might not know how they can do this. If you can create a piece of content that shows them how to do this via SEO, the people shown this ad might reach out and ask for a consultation.

You can also run a ‘Text ads’ campaign.

A Text ads campaign allows you to create a more ‘traditional’ kind of ad. It’s essentially an image next to a section of text.

Here’s an example –

This kind of campaign can be hard to pull off when trying to generate SEO leads.  

This ad format doesn’t give you a lot of ability to provide context as to why someone should seek out your services. The other ad formats we’re going to take a look at, let you sell using content that educates your target audience on why they should seek out your services.

This ad format is also more likely to be ignored. For the most part, InMails and Sponsored Content ads are a lot less invasive and feel a lot less like advertising. Because of this, they’re often able to generate better levels of engagement.

There’s also the option of running an ‘InMail’ campaign.

LinkedIn allows you to message people on the platform, if they are a ‘connection.’ If they aren’t you won’t be able to message them.

InMails, however, give you the chance to InMail whomever you want to on the platform.

Here’s an example of an InMail ad – 

If you are going to run an InMail campaign, you can take two approaches.

You could either send people a case study, based on results you’ve delivered for someone in the same industry. You could then offer a consultation call that offers people the chance to see how you could deliver similar results for them.

Alternatively, you could send people personalized recommendations on how they could improve their current marketing strategy.

For instance, if you see someone that is running a lot of AdWords ads, you could send them a proposal that suggests how they could achieve results with SEO. You could detail how these results would lead to lower marketing costs and therefore more profit per customer. You could even point out mistakes in their current SEO strategy.

Conclusion

If you don’t know how to generate leads for your SEO agency, it’s going to be hard to create consistent revenue. Thankfully, you can use LinkedIn to help you generate leads.

In this post, we’ve taken a look at some of the steps you can take to generate SEO leads from LinkedIn. You can use the LinkedIn Publisher platform or you could even use LinkedIn Ads.

Whichever approach you take, make sure you know who your target audience is. LinkedIn is a big place. If you just dive in without defining your ideal client, you won’t be able to join the 47% of marketers that have sourced a customer on the platform.

The post LinkedIn for SEO Agencies: How to generate SEO leads for your agency from LinkedIn appeared first on Serped.com.

The SEO landscape is constantly changing.

What worked in 2017, may not necessarily work in 2018.

Why?

Because SEO ranking factors change.

What Google considers important today, might not be what they consider important tomorrow.

In this post, we’re going to take a look at some of the ranking factors that you’ll want to pay attention to when it comes to SEO in 2018.

Paying attention to these ranking factors will ensure that you’re able to get the exposure you need in the search engines, so that your business can thrive.

If you choose to ignore these ranking factors and continue to do things the old way, however, you may end up losing out to people who do pay attention to the new way of doing things.

Let’s get started!

What to Expect From This Post

When it comes to SEO, there are a ton of ranking factors that you can focus on and obsess over.

In fact, recent estimates suggest that there are as many as 200 ranking factors that Google is currently paying attention to at the moment – a number that is going to inevitably rise.

The problem, however, is that not all of these ranking factors are important.

For instance, in most cases, you’ll generate a better ROI from your SEO efforts if you focus on building quality links, as opposed to renaming your images so that they contain your keyword.

And so because of this, the goal of this blog post is to help you focus on the big wins.

In this post, we’re going to focus on the ranking factors that really matter in 2018 – ranking factors, that will move the needle if you optimize for them.

As a result, we’ll be focusing on the following – 

• Content Depth
• User Engagement
• HTTPS
• On Page SEO
• Backlinks
• RankBrain

A lot of these ranking factors require a different, more evolved approach compared to what you already might be used to.

So if you think you already know about On Page SEO, for instance, you might want to stick around and see what we have to say.

After all, just one tip could dramatically alter the success of your SEO strategy in 2018.  

Content Depth – The importance of providing the best resource

Content depth is something that has been instrumental in improving search engine rankings for a long time now – and it doesn’t look like this ranking factor is going to be going anywhere, any time soon.

Research has shown that long form content, generally does a better job at ranking in the search results.

More importantly, however, Google is more interested than ever in providing the ultimate resource on something, in response to a search query.

When Google can provide someone with the best resource on a given topic, it is going to be providing the search engine user with a good user experience – which is ultimately what Google wants to achieve.

And so if you want to be in Google’s favor, you need to understand how to create content that is going to be the best out there, in relation to your chosen topic.

In doing so, you’ll also improve the odds of your content being shown within a ‘featured snippet.’

Now, of course, the goal isn’t just to create long form content just for the sake of creating long form content.

When you’re creating long form content, make sure you are actually creating something that is going to be worth reading.

There is no point in creating a long form piece of content, if it doesn’t meet the needs of your readers.

Which takes us to our next point – ‘user engagement.’

User Engagement

User engagement essentially refers to how interested people are in your content – once they’re presented with your content.  

If people aren’t interested, they’ll click the back button so that they can find another piece of content that is engaging (this is behaviour is often known as ‘pogo-sticking’ – something we’ll cover later).

The graphic below does a great job at explaining the mindset of someone who is looking for engaging content.

As mentioned, low quality content, that doesn’t produce engagement (even if it is long form content), can lead to something known as ‘pogo-sticking.’

This is where people will click on your search engine listing, realise that the content is no good and then click the back button to find another piece of content that does meet their needs.

Pogo-sticking is heavily related to another ranking factor that falls under the umbrella of user engagement – ‘Dwell-time.’

Dwell time refers to the amount of time people spend on your website.

Now, there are two camps when it comes to ‘Dwell-time’ and its impact on search engine rankings.  

There are those that think that it is a ranking factor and there are those who think that it isn’t something that Google can really measure, meaning it isn’t a ranking factor.

Now, there isn’t really a concrete answer out there, in terms of whether or not Google is paying attention to dwell time.

But it makes sense that Google would consider dwell time something worth measuring, when you look at it from their perspective.  

People are always looking to game backlinks.

You don’t have to spend too much time researching the backlink profiles of websites that don’t have a ‘big brand,’ in order to find one that uses a Private Blog Network (PBN).

This means that backlinks can be easily gamed, if you’re willing to pay for links.

And so the way that the current algorithm works, websites can still game the system – without having to go overboard with their content.

User experience and overall engagement, however, aren’t necessarily easy to game.  

In fact… To actually improve those two factors you have to create incredible, engaging content – which is what Google wants you to do in the first place.

And so when you consider that, it seems like a logical thing for Google to consider user engagement when it comes to ranking content.

Plus there’s some research to suggest that there is a correlation, between high ranking and low bounce rate.

In terms of the results shown in the chart above, the odds are that the content is good, and hence produces a low bounce rate a result. Meaning dwell time is going to be higher and pogo sticking is less likely.

All of which adds weight to the idea that Google is going to prioritise content that achieves high levels of user engagement.  

So user engagement is definitely a ranking factor you should consider optimizing for.

So, how can you improve user engagement levels?  

The Moz blog does a great job at highlighting some of the key things you can do to improve engagement levels.

There’s a lot here, so let’s go through each of these strategies.

When creating content the first thing you need to consider is that your content actually meets the needs of your target audience.

For the most part, when people are searching Google, they’re looking for background knowledge on a specific topic or they’re looking to solve a specific problem.

You should decide which camp your content falls in, and then think about how you can best meet the needs of someone who would be searching for such content, with the help of Google.

One of the best ways to figure out how you can create a great piece of content that meets the needs of your target audience, is by taking a look at what else is already out there.

More often than not, you’ll know ahead of time what keyword you’d like a certain piece of content to rank for.

This is helpful, because now you can just take a look at the other examples of content that are showing up in the search results (for your chosen keyword), and then consider how you can make your content better meet the needs of the people who are searching for it.

You could, for example –

• Add more detail to certain points/topics within the content
• Add more images
• Add video content
• Make the content that is easier to navigate

You may also want to visit Buzzsumo.com, in order to find examples of content based on your chosen topic that have done well in the past (in terms of share count).

Suppose I was writing a blog post on ‘how to write a book.’

I could head over to Buzzsumo.com and then search the phrase ‘how to write a book.’

As shown above, I’d then be presented with a list of content relating to this topic of which have been highly shared in the past.

Because this content has been highly shared, it gives me a pretty good sense of what my target audience will be interested if they’re looking for content that teaches them ‘how to write a book.’

The second thing you need to focus on, is making sure your content provides a good ‘user experience’ for the person who is consuming it.

It’s all very well writing long form content, but if that means people are going end up being presented with a wall of text, your target audience isn’t really going to be able to enjoy what you’ve written.

At the very least you need to make sure that you’re using some sort of ‘table of contents’  – especially for long form content.

You’ll should also make sure your content is broken down into small paragraphs (like the text in this blog post) so that people can easily skim through the content.

On top of that ,you need to make sure that you’re using a lot of relevant images in your content, all of which can help make your content seem more engaging.

If you really want to make your content more engaging, think about using some sort of custom design on your website.

UAV coach is a great example of how this can be done.

Their ‘How to Fly a Drone’ guide is a great example of long form, engaging content, that provides a great user experience thanks to custom design and well considered layout.

The third thing you need to pay attention to, is how fast the page loads.

You’ve probably experienced for yourself, the frustration of having to deal with a slow loading page.

And like many others, you might’ve probably just clicked the back button if you find that a page is taking too long to load.

If you want to find out how long it takes for a page to load you can use a service provided by Google, known as ‘PageSpeed Insights.’

This service makes it easy for you to work out how fast a certain webpage is loading and what can be done in order to make it load even quicker.

Here’s an example of what you might experience when using the PageSpeed Insights tool.

As you can see, the tool provides you with a score out of 100.

The tool will then provide you with some suggestions, telling you what you can do to improve page load times.

For instance, one of the suggestions provided here is that the page could do a better job at ‘optimizing images’ and it could also make use of ‘browser caching.’

This makes sense, since for most people images are the biggest burden on the load speed of a website.

Compressing images can help a great deal when it comes to improving page speed load times.

If you want to compress your images you can use a WordPress plugin to help you get the job done.

‘Smush Image Compression and Optimisation’ is a great example of a plugin that’ll help you compress images and improve the loading time of your images.

Aside from compressing images, you can also improve the speed at which your webpages load by using something known as a ‘content delivery network’ (also known as a CDN).

Before purchasing a CDN service double check that your hosting provider doesn’t already have a CDN offering.

Nowadays, there are a lot of hosting providers that’ll be able to help provide you with a CDN service, because they’re aware of how important it is to have a fast loading website.

If, however, your website hosting service does not provide a CDN service then you can use a platform known as Cloudflare to help you set up a CDN.

Cloudflare provides a free option, for people who want to test out the service. Depending on your usage, you can get by with the free option for as long as you want.

HTTPS (SSL Certificate Installation)

Another thing that is starting to become a significant ranking factor, is the use of HTTPS.

Google announced all the way back in 2014, that it was going to use HTTPS as a ranking signal.

There is evidence, however, that HTTPS is starting to affect search engine rankings more and more.

HTTPS is a form of encryption that helps to protect the data of the people who are using your website.

Remember – Google is looking to provide its users with the best web experience possible.

If it can send people to a website that is going to protect the data of its users, why not give that website more visibility than a similar website that doesn’t have HTTPS.

If your SEO revolves around markets that aren’t really that competitive, then it is clear to see how HTTPS can give you the edge against your competitors.

And if you are in a competitive market, then it seems like HTTPS is pretty much something you’ll have to invest in if you want to compete against everyone else.

This chart from SemRush, does a great job at showing how the higher ranking domains are the ones that have implemented HTTPS.

The chart also goes to show that the more search volume a particular keyword has, the more likely it will be that the top domains are making use of HTTPS. 

On-Page SEO

On page SEO is as important as ever.

After all, on page SEO let’s you show Google that your content is the most in depth piece of content, for a given topic.

However, you’ll want to be careful when optimising your On Page SEO as you don’t want to do anything that is going to make it look like you’re ‘keyword stuffing’ your pages.

Here are some of the On Page SEO ranking factors you need to pay attention to and things you should keep in mind, when adjusting On Page SEO for your site.  

For one, it still helps to have your keyword in the title tag of your page.

The need for this is evidenced by this research performed by Semrush.

It’s also a good idea to make sure you have the keyword in the meta description of your page. The evidence for doing this, is also shown below.

You also want to make sure that you use your chosen keyword within the body of your text.

Again, the chart below, shows that at least 75% of pages that rank highly, have the keyword in the body text.

You’ll also want to pay attention to a bunch of other factors too when sorting out your On Page SEO.

For one, you’ll want to make sure you’re using a lot of synonyms and related words, in your text.

This can help you show Google that your content covers a topic in a lot of depth, and hence it is the best out there, for a given topic.

Let’s look at how this can be done.

Imagine I created a piece of content based on the keyword ‘dog training for puppy.’

The first thing I can do is scroll down to the bottom of the search results for this term and review some of the other suggested terms.

These other terms are worth including in my piece of content, because in doing so I will be able to make it so that my content is going to be the ultimate resource on this topic.

Including these other keywords will also help improve the odds that Google will recognise my content as being relevant.

When it comes to related keywords, the term Latent Semantic Indexing Keywords is often used.

Latent Semantic Indexing, just refers to keywords that are related, but not necessarily directly, to your core keyword.

When performing keyword research on your page, you should try to also include some related LSI keywords within the H2 tags of your content.

This will also improve the odds that your content will be able to rank for terms outside of your core, chosen keyword.

You can find additional keywords using Google Keyword Planner.

To do this head over to and then type in your chosen keyword.

The tool will then bring up a list of related keywords.

It can be hard to organise all of these keywords into similar groups, so click on the ‘Ad group ideas’ tab, to help organise everything.

In doing so, you can now find groups of keywords that you should include within your piece of content.

It is important that you figure out how to include relevant, related keywords in your text, because Google is now getting into the habit of serving up one piece of content for multiple keywords.

We created a single piece of content, that in a way, optimizes around a single keyword – Digital Marketing Agency.

However, the page dedicated to this keyword ranks for a lot more than just one keyword.

Aside from the obvious backlinks that the post has been able to generate, It also ranks for so many keywords, because we paid a lot of attention to On Page SEO and the use of keywords on the page.

Another way you can find LSI keywords, is by using a tool known as LSIGraph.

Here is an example of what I managed to generate with the tool, when using the keyword from earlier.

As you can see, the tool was able to provide me with a lot of keywords that can be used in a piece of content, that’ll help it seem more relevant in the ‘virtual’ eyes of Google. 

Backlinks

As you might’ve guessed, backlinks are still important an important ranking factor in 2018.

But… Just how important are they?

Firstly, let’s look at ‘Total backlinks’ and how this ranking factor can impact ranking ability.  

As you can see in the chart above, backlinks still play an important role in influencing ranking potential.

There’s no doubt that backlinks will continue to be of importance for many years to come. The challenge is that you need to figure out how to build backlinks in a way that is sustainable and ‘white-hat.’

Sure you can build backlinks in a questionable manner, but with Google making use of machine learning more and more, it’s going to be difficult to game the system in the coming years.

Plus, if you’re focusing on building a brand that is going to stand the test of time, then it really is a good idea to focus on building your website in the most sustainable manner possible.

Secondly, let’s take a look at referring domains.

Referring domains, relates to the number of different websites that are linking to a given website.

There’s reason to believe that websites that are ranking #1 for a given keyword, don’t have the most referring domains.

However, websites after the #1 spot, generally rank higher, the more referring domains they have pointing to them.

It’s worth mentioning, however, that when it comes to ‘pages’ you’ll tend to find that the higher a page is ranking, the more referring domains it has – all of which is again highlighted in the chart above.

All in all, therefore, you should focus on building backlinks from as many websites as possible.

Next, let’s look at how ‘anchors’ and their impact as a ranking factor.

Anchor text is simply the text that people use when they’re linking out to your site.

Here is a chart, that helps detail how ‘Total number of anchors’ can have an impact on a websites ability to rank.

The chart above does a good job at highlighting the fact that a wide range of ‘anchors’ can be helpful when it comes to improving the rankings of a website.

The highest ranking websites, tend to have a diverse range of anchors.

This is likely due to the diverse range of anchors helping to signal to Google, that this site is trustworthy – since it’s not necessarily easy to get a wide range of anchors, that are most likely quite random too.

But what about having the keyword in the anchor?

Famously, Google penalised a lot of websites not too long ago, that had a lot of suspiciously similar anchors.

As shown in the chart above, nowadays, if you look at some of the top ranking websites, it seems as though they’re less reliant on having keywords in the anchors.

There’s a lot more you could look into, when it comes to identifying how backlinks could impact rankings in 2018.

However, for the most part it’s clear to see that websites with diverse, ‘natural’ backlink profiles tend to do the best – as shown be the data on the top ranking websites.

If your backlink profile follows any sort of pattern – like the one below, then there’s a chance that you’re going to be exposing yourself to some sort of risk.

After all, with machine learning becoming ever more present in Google's strategy for optimising search results, it won’t be too hard for some sort of machine learning algorithm to catch onto what you’re doing. 

Satisfying RankBrain

In this post, we’ve referred a variety of things that generally relate to the concept of RankBrain –  which might not have seemed obvious at first.

RankBrain is the machine learning algorithm that Google is using in order to work out which content is best.

For the most part, it is thought that RankBrain relies primarily on user signals, in order to determine the ranking of content.

A couple of years ago, Google announced that RankBrain is the third most important factor when it comes to deciding how the content in its search engines should rank.

With machine learning becoming even more powerful and refined, there’s no reason to think that RankBrain is going to be going anywhere.

RankBrain is special, because it impacts the rankings, ‘on-the-fly.’

So why does all of this matter?

Well, for one, it means that you’re now able to influence the search engine rankings, without always having to rely on backlinks and content – provided you can get people to read and engage with your content.

Now, we’ve already covered how you can improve engagement levels, earlier in this post.

However, what we didn’t talk about, was improving the CTR of your search engine listings.

If you can improve the CTR of your search engine listings – and then keep people engaged once they’re on your page, you’ll be able to satisfy RankBrain.

This means that you’ll therefore be able to improve your search rankings, without building links or adding more content.

And so because of this, you need to develop a better understanding of how to write title tags and meta descriptions that are going to draw people in and make them want to click.

One of the best ways to do this, is by studying the paid results, for a given keyword.

In most cases, these people have spent a lot of time, effort and money to figure out what they can do to make people click on their listing.

You can do this, even for keywords/topics that aren’t related to your specific piece of content.

For instance, here is an example related to the keyword ‘order flowers.’

As you can see, a lot of these top listings make use of specific numbers, to help draw attention.

They’re also touching on key points that might pique the interest of their target market.

Now, you might think that this stuff is irrelevant.

But suppose we’re writing a blog post about ‘how to run faster.’  

We could use what we’ve learned above, to help use write a blog post title that is going to draw attention.

How?

By using specific numbers and related interests of your target market – here’s an example:

“How to Improve Running Speed by 10% (in 30 days).”

The specificity used in that title tag, is likely going to help make the search listing seem more enticing.

We can also use the meta description to overcome some of the ‘objections’ someone might have, when it comes to such a topic.

For example, the meta description could be – ”Learn how to run 10% faster in 30 days without injuring yourself or without having to spend money on fancy equipment.”

In doing all of this, you improve the odds that your content will achieve a better than average CTR. If your content is good, this will mean that your content now signals to Google RankBrain that it is achieving high levels of user satisfaction.

And all of this will help improve the odds of your content ranking higher in the search results, for a given term – or maybe even a wide variety of terms.

You may also want to do some ‘conversion rate optimization’ (CRO) testing on your web pages, in order to see what can be done to improve engagement levels.

CRO is where you split test variations of a webpage against one another

When you do this for you web pages, it will become easier to figure out how you can adjust your webpage, in order to improve the level of engagement your pages are able to achieve.

A simple way to conduct CRO testing, is with the help of a tool like VWO. 

Conclusion

In this post, we’ve taken a look at some of the ranking factors that you’ll want to pay attention to in 2018.

There’s a lot that we have covered in this blog post and it can feel like you may have a lot to work on.

In any case, for the most part, you’ll find that a lot of what we’ve covered is really just a refinement of what you’re doing already.

Basic SEO principles still apply, but now you just need to make sure you’re accounting for RankBrain and long term SEO approaches that are going to be sustainable.

Your competitors might not even be aware of the changes that are affecting the SEO landscape.

So it is important that you attention to these varying ranking factors and their impact on your website.

And so the sooner you take action – the sooner you’ll be able to gain a competitive advantage in the search results.

Good luck!

The post SEO Ranking Factors: 6 Ranking Signals To Dominate Google Search Results in 2018 appeared first on Serped.com.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) can be one the most powerful ways to generate traffic for your e-commerce store.

When you know how to hit the first page of Google for certain keywords, you'll be able to place your e-commerce store in front of people who are actively looking to spend money.  

In this guide, we’re going to examine how you can achieve such results and make SEO work for your e-commerce store.

We’re going to review some of the basic aspects of ecommerce SEO, such as identifying the right keywords, as well as some of the more complex ideas such as site architecture.

By the end of this guide, you’ll know how to use SEO to boost the visibility and sales of your ecommerce site, in a way that is sustainable and effective.

Let’s begin.

The Ecommerce SEO strategy

SEO strategy for online stores can become very complex if you let it.

But the best SEO strategies, are often the simplest ones.

Simple SEO strategies often work well, because they pay attention to the main factors that Google uses when ranking websites.

In basic terms, there are two key factors Google will review when it ranks a page within its search results:

1. How relevant a page is, in relation a certain search term. Though there is a lot else that goes into it, Relevance is often defined by the keywords used within that page as well as how detailed that page is.
2. How many links are pointing to the page in question – more specifically, how many links exist on other websites, of which use words related to the keyword that has been typed in.

Yes, SEO can be a lot more complex than the explanation provided above.

But in this post, we’re going to keep things as simple as possible.  

In doing so, it will be easier for you to grasp the general concept of SEO — speeding up the time it will take for you to generate results.

So… In line with what we’ve just discussed, the SEO strategy we’re going to cover in this guide will work be based on the following framework – 

1. Identify keyword opportunities
2. Attempt to rank for our chosen keywords using in depth (ideally evergreen) content. The detail of this content will make it seem relevant in the eyes of Google and attract a lot of links in the process, because it will become a trusted resource.
3. Perform general ‘On Page SEO’ which takes care of some of the technical aspects of SEO.  

That’s it.

If you create good content, Google will naturally help you improve your rankings as it will deem your content to be the most relevant for certain keywords. Plus, your content will naturally attract more links – thereby helping you take care of the ‘link building’ side of SEO.

While you could add a few more bits to the process, the above strategy should be more than enough to get you some quick but sustainable wins that will help your ecommerce store.  

The different types of keywords

Before we dive into the nitty gritty of identifying the keywords you need to target, there is something you need to understand about the nature of the keywords that people are typing into Google.

Different keywords represent different forms of intent.

If you don’t understand intent, you’ll end up developing an SEO strategy which might produce a lot of traffic – but little profit.

In simple terms, there are two kinds of intent when it comes to your keywords:  

1. Informational keywords
2. Buyer/Commercial Keywords

Keyword intent is often signaled by the other words that people will use alongside the base keyword in a search string.

As you might’ve guessed, ‘buyer’ keywords are keywords typed in by people who are actively looking to buy something.

Such keywords tend to produce a lot of revenue for your store, if you rank highly for them.

Let’s suppose that we had an ecommerce store that was related to knitting.

An example of a buyer keyword in this niche would be: 

• Buy knitting yarn
• Buy knitting needles
• Knitting yarn deals
• Cheap knitting yarn
• Purchase knitting yarn

As you can see, these keywords would be typed in by someone who is ready to, or is at the very least on the verge of, buying the items mentioned.

Because such keywords are profitable, they tend to attract a lot of attention from your competition.

This means that it’s not always easy to rank for buyer keywords, and sometimes the task can be outright impossible, or at the very least – take a lot of time.

Informational keywords, on the other hand, are generally typed in by people who are looking for information, in regards to a certain topic/product.

There’s less of a guarantee that the individuals typing in these keywords, are going to become customers.

However, such keywords do give you the chance to get in front of people, of whom you can later turn into customers.

No matter what niche you’re in, there are often much more informational keywords that there are buyer keywords.

You’ll also tend to find that informational keywords are easier to rank for.

Examples of informational keywords might include: 

• How to knit
• Knitting tips
• How to knit clothes for a baby
• Knitting guide for beginners

On the whole, you’ll want to make sure that you have a good mix of both informational and buyer keywords.

This will ensure that you have an expansive SEO strategy that will help you gain some quick wins, whilst also setting you up for long term success.

Because the main focus of this post centers around creating content in order to improve your rankings, you’ll notice that we’re going to focus more on informational keywords, rather than buyer keywords.

Note: In some cases, there is also a third type of keyword, known as the ‘product’ keyword. Product keywords can be worth targeting because they’re often ignored by the competition.

You’ll tend to find that product keywords are a mix between informational keywords and buyer keywords.

They’re generally typed in by people who are on the verge of buying something, but just want to do some research first.

Such research might include finding the best version of something or perhaps just the cheapest.

On top of that, such keywords will give you the chance to set yourself apart from the competition. 

Performing keyword research for your Ecommerce Store

In this guide, the tool we’re going to focus on using the Google Keyword Planner to perform keyword research.

Even though there are many other tools that you can use when it comes to keyword research – if you’re on a budget the Google Keyword Planner is best, because it is free.

When you begin to generate some revenue from your ecommerce store, though, you should definitely think about investing in solutions such as SERPed.net and others.

That’s because such tools make it easy for you to find opportunities, that would be hard to otherwise locate using the Google Keyword Planner.

Note: If you don’t have an account with Google AdWords, you’ll need to create one as you can’t use the Google Keyword tool without an AdWords account. So if you don’t have one, create one now, and then come back to this section of the guide.

Let’s take a look at how you can use the Google Keyword tool.

To begin with head over to https://adwords.google.com/home/tools/keyword-planner/.

You should then see this screen.

Click on ‘ Search for keywords using a phrase, website or category.’

You’ll then see the following ‘box’ open up.

In the ‘Your product or service’ dialog box, you need to type in a ‘base keyword.’

Don’t overcomplicate this base keyword, as your goal at the moment is to identify as many keyword opportunities as possible.

For the sake of this post, let’s suppose we’re crafting content for an ecommerce store that sells items related to ‘knitting.’

My base keyword, therefore is going to be ‘knitting.’

For now, leave the ‘Targeting,’ ‘Customize your search’ and ‘Date range’ sections as they are.

Then click on ‘Get Ideas.’

You should then see a screen like the one below.

As shown above, there are around ‘1M-10M searches’ related to the term ‘knitting.’

This is good, because it lets us know that there is a demand for products and content related to knitting.

It’s also good, because it represents a lot of potential keywords (and therefore opportunities) I can go after.

This, therefore, limits the impact that existing competition will have on my ability to succeed with SEO in this niche.

Now, one thing you’ll notice on this page is that there are two tabs – ’Ad group ideas’ and ‘Keyword’ ideas.

The ‘Ad group ideas’ tab groups keywords together into topics, as shown below.

The ‘Keyword ideas’ tab, simply lists all of the keywords that the Keyword Planner has found, in relation to the ‘base’ keyword that was initially typed in, as shown below.

So what should you do now?

Well, before you do anything else, let’s quickly take a look at how you should analyze the data returned by the keyword tool.

More specifically how you should use the ‘Avg. monthly searches,’ ‘Competition’ and ‘Suggested bid’ columns, to inform your strategy.

The first thing you need to keep in mind, is that the ‘Competition’ and ‘Suggested bid’ columns provide data based in relation to AdWords.

The competition column lets you know how many advertisers are competing to bid for a certain term. The ‘Suggested bid’ column lets you know what advertisers are typically paying, for a specific keyword.

Now, whilst this data is designed to help people using AdWords, it can still be used for SEO.

Why?

If there is a keyword that has a high suggested bid, it’s often because there are people making money, by placing ads for that keyword.

The same applies to keywords that have a lot of competition – advertisers are competing for a reason.

All of this lets you know which keywords are going to drive profitable results for your ecommerce store.

If you can rank for these ‘high-value’ keywords, you’ll be able to get a ton of profitable traffic, that other companies are willing to pay a lot of money for.

Now, your natural inclination might be to go after the keywords that are driving the most traffic – AKA the keywords with the most ‘Avg. monthly searches.’

But a lot of the time, such keywords are often too broad to drive the kind of traffic to your site that will generate sales.

You’ll tend to find the more specific keywords, with lower search volumes, are the ones that tend to provide the best traffic.

Because of this, it’s always a good idea to pay attention to the Suggested Bid and Competition columns, when deciding on which keywords you should go after, rather than solely on the Avg. monthly searches column.

So with that in mind, let’s explore how we can discover keywords that will be worth incorporating into our SEO strategy.

Well, to begin let’s focus on the ‘Keywords tab’ and sort the keywords by suggested bid.

This will help us identify the keywords that will drive the most profitable traffic.

Here’s what happened when I sorted the keywords based on the suggested bid.

As you can see, the suggested bids for the keywords are quite high and there are individuals willing to pay as much as $4.44 for certain keywords.

This can seem surprising, especially since a lot of these keywords look as though they’re in the ‘informational’ category.

However, it just goes to show how powerful informational keywords can be, in terms of their ability to drive traffic that will eventually become profitable.

One thing you might notice with these keywords, is that the ‘Avg. monthly searches’ are quite low for some of them.

However, as mentioned earlier, because these keywords are likely to drive a lot of profitable traffic (as indicated by the fact that people are willing to pay a lot to target such keywords) the low keyword volume can be excused.

If you look at the screenshot, you’ll notice that I’ve drawn attention to some keywords that look as though they’ll be good keywords to rank for.

Aside from the research done here, the most basic way I can decide whether or not I should incorporate these keywords into my SEO strategy, is by searching for them on Google.

Upon typing these keywords into Google, all I need to do is check if there are any web pages that contain the keyword in their title tag, and/or cover the keyword topic in exceptional depth.

If there are pages that contain the keyword in their title tag, it shows that other websites are aware of the potential for this keyword.

However, if the content provided by these websites is ‘thin’ and the top ranking pages aren’t that in depth, then it represents a chance for you to create something more authoritative and in depth, and therefore rank higher.

Even if other websites are targeting this keyword, within their SEO strategy.

Similarly, if there is content that is in depth, but it doesn’t contain the keyword within the title tag, you have the chance to rank highly for that keyword.

Because it shows that other sites aren’t necessarily going after that keyword, within their SEO strategy.

Remember – Google wants to deliver a good user experience, and they can do this by providing content that is the most relevant.

If your content has a title that contains the keyword people are typing in, while also being more in depth than competing links for the same keyword – Google will naturally deem your content as being more relevant.

This, therefore, helps you rank high for the keyword you’re targeting, over time.

So, let’s explore this concept a little bit more by searching for one the keywords provided by the Google Keyword tool.

Let’s just pick the random example of ‘Yarn to knit.’

Now, there are a lot of ads for this keyword, showing that companies are making money of this keyword.

However, when we look at the search results, we’re not really presented with a definitive piece of content that contains this keyword in the title.

So this represents an opportunity.

Another way you can go through this process, is by sorting your keywords using ‘Competition’ instead of ‘Suggested bid.’

When you sort keywords by competition, you’ll tend to find that the keywords returned, often generate larger ‘Avg. monthly searches.’

Therefore if you’re in search of high-value keywords that still generate a lot of traffic, it’s always good to combine both keywords with a lot of competition as well as keywords with a high suggested bid.

If you’d like to find high-value keywords that competitors have ignored, consider selecting a keyword delivered initially by Google Keyword Planner, and then going through the process again, but with this existing keyword.  

Doing this, can be a good way to find derivatives of a high-value keyword, that will be equally as effective at driving quality traffic, that your competitors might not be aware of them or ignoring them.

Let’s do this using the keyword, ‘basics of knitting’ – a keyword that was provided by the Google Keyword Planner when I initially just performed used the base keyword ‘knitting.’  

If I type that keyword into the Google Keyword Planner, I’m presented with the following variations of keywords.

If I then sort these keywords, by suggested bid, in order to find the most profitable keywords, I’m then shown the following keywords.

The first keyword shown, is ‘what might a person make when first learning to knit.’

Since this is a high-value keyword, it might be worth incorporating it into my strategy.

Plus, it would be relatively easy to create a piece of in depth content around this keyword, improving the odds of me being able to rank for it.

Let’s take a look at what crops up in Google when we type that keyword in.

After typing that keyword into Google, we can see that there are two links that use the exact phrase in their title.

However, both of these examples aren’t really examples of in depth content.

This provides me with an opportunity to potentially outrank them, if I put the time into to creating something better, of which also uses the exact keyword in the title.

Let’s also take a look at the keyword example of ‘how to start a knitting project’ to see how easy it would be to rank for it.

With a keyword difficulty score of 53%; the tool suggest it is not difficult to rank for this keyword.

Again, to re-confirm, let's type that keyword into Google.

Then, if I review the search listings, I can see that there isn’t really an in depth piece of content, that uses precisely this keyword in the title.

This, therefore, presents an opportunity to rank for a potentially high-value keyword, of which my competitors might have ignored.

As discussed earlier, there is also the option to sort keywords using ‘Competition.’

You should always seek out opportunities by sorting results by Average Monthly Search Volume as well as CPC.

CPC tends to show you high value keywords with low volume.

But Average Monthly Search Volume more often than not, shows you keywords that generate a lot of traffic, whilst also being profitable (though probably not as profitable as the keywords that have high suggested bids).

Above, I’ve highlighted the keyword ‘bamboo knitting needles’  of which has a lot of competition and generates a lot of (relatively) monthly searches.

If we type this keyword into Google, we’re then presented with the following results.

Here are the other links that can be found, when scrolling down the page.

A lot of these links point to online stores.

However, there isn’t really a piece of content that pops up in relation to this keyword.

Therefore, if we were to create an in depth piece of content, around the topic of ‘bamboo knitting needles’ we’d potentially do a good a job at ranking for this keyword.

For instance, we could create a piece of content such as a ‘buying guide for bamboo knitting needles.’

Note: Even if we didn’t want to rank specifically for the keyword ‘bamboo knitting needles’ – by creating an in depth piece of content around the topic of bamboo knitting needles, we’d still rank for other terms related to bamboo knitting needles. This is arguably still beneficial, and speaks to the power of something known as ‘long tail keywords.’

Long Tail Keywords

Long tail keywords are highly specific keywords that contain a lot of words. If you create a long form piece of content, you’ll naturally be able to rank for more long tail keywords.

Because the people typing in long tail keywords are being so specific, there’s often a good chance that such individuals will eventually become customers.

Traffic related to bamboo knitting needles is high quality, as signified by the fact that marketers are willing to pay to get themselves in front of people typing in the keyword ‘bamboo knitting needles.’

Therefore, if someone is typing in a keyword that is related to bamboo knitting needles, and they end up on your site (as a result of your content ranking for a ‘long tail keyword’) there’s a good chance that they’ll be the kind of person that might spend with your store.

If you want to find examples of long tail keywords, you can also make use of the ‘Autosuggest’ feature provided by the ‘Google search bar.’

If I type in the phrase ‘bamboo knitting needles’ I’m instantly presented with a keyword that represents a potential opportunity.

If I search for this keyword, I can see that there is no content or web page that accurately covers this keyword – presenting me with an opportunity.

While it can take a lot of effort to find such long tail opportunities, you’ll tend to find such keywords represent a lot of potential – that your competitors are probably ignoring. Let’s briefly also take a look at how you can use the ‘Ad Groups’ feature, within the Google Keyword Planner.

It should be your goal to adopt a comprehensive SEO strategy, that will help you cover a wide range of topics.

Going after a wide range of topics is important, because by doing so, you ensure that you’re expanding the reach of your store, as much as possible.

If you want to find out what these topics should be then the Ad Groups feature can be particularly helpful.

Let’s review what Ad Groups are shown to us, when we use the original keyword of ‘knitting.’

As shown below, a wide range of Ad Groups have been returned in relation to the keyword ‘knitting.’

If we scroll down a bit more, we’re able to see even more Ad Groups, related to this keyword.

If we click on these Ad Groups, we are then shown a wide range of keywords, that represent the Ad Group (topic) in question.

For instance, here are the keywords that appear, when I type select the ‘knitted baby’ Ad Group.

All of these keywords are relatively ‘high volume’ and high-value.

This is shown by the ‘Competition’ levels as well as the ‘Suggested bids’ that are being displayed.

So what should you do from this point?

There are two angles that you can adopt here.

The first, is to treat each of the keywords within the Ad Groups, as potential opportunities that you can tackle. What you could do is create a piece of content for each keyword.

However, this could potentially put you in a position where you’re creating a lot of overlapping content.

As a result, you might alternatively want to tackle each Ad Group as one single opportunity/keyword that you’re going to tackle.

So for the Ad Group of ‘Knitted Baby’ you could create a piece of long form, in depth, content that revolves around the key focus of the ad group – knitting items for babies.

You could then use all of the keywords provided by the Ad Group, as potential topics you need to cover within the post.

By creating a comprehensive, in depth piece of content, using the above approach, it could potentially be easier to attract a lot of links.

It might also make it easier to drive a lot of long tail traffic as people will be searching for keywords related to what can be found in the Ad Group.

On-page SEO for Ecommerce Product Pages

When talking about  On Page SEO, a reference is generally being made to the small technical details you’ll want to keep in mind, of which will help increase the odds that your site will rank highly.

This section also relates heavily to product pages, so whatever we’re going to cover here, should be applied also to those pages too – unless stated otherwise.

The first thing we’ll want to focus on is writing precise titles, meta descriptions and sub headings.

More specifically, you need to make sure you’re including your target keyword, within the title of your page.

Aside from letting Google know what your page/content is about, using the right keywords within your title, can help make your site seem more relevant.

If your site accurately represents the keyword that someone has just typed into google, they’ll be more likely to click on your site within the search listings.

This can, therefore, improve the CTR of your site within the search listings, which can also help improve your rankings over time.

This is provided that you use the keyword within the title tag and create an even better piece of content.

Let’s take a look at an example of a website that makes good use of the title tag.

Here’s the title tag of a webpage on the website of Asos, a fashion retailer.

If we look at the result as it appears within Google, we can see that it’s the same.

It’s clear therefore, the title tag will affect what people will see when they’re browsing Google. If your title tag can accurately represent what people are looking to buy, then you increase the odds of them clicking on your search listing and buying from you.

You need to make sure that you’re writing your meta descriptions so that you include your target keyword.

Again, this will produce similar benefits to what we’ve just covered in relation to the title.

When you write your product descriptions well, Google will actually help you out by including a lot of relevant information, within the meta descriptions that are shown within the Google Search results.

It can also help to make use of something known as ‘schema.’

Making use of ‘schema’, also known as scheme markups, will help make it so that Google displays ‘rich snippets’ when showing your results within the search listings.

Here’s an example: 

Here’s an example of actual ‘product schema code’ and how it translates into providing information about your product, of which the search engines can use to create ‘rich snippets.’

So how do you get this done?

Well, all you need to do is create some code which details the various specifics relating to your product and then insert that code, into the code of the relevant product page.

Luckily, you can get some help with this, by using the ‘Structured Data Markup Helper’ that is provided by Google.

Once you go through the process of using this tool, you be presented with some code that you can insert into your website, of which will ensure that you can benefit from ‘Rich snippets.’

Remember, if you don’t find yourself to be much of an expert, when it comes to website code, you can always work with a freelancer, to get the job done.

It’s also important that you make use of H2 sub headers within your content, and that you use relevant keywords within such headers.

Google’s algorithms will scan the sub headers of your content, to get a better idea of what it is about. You should, therefore, include relevant keywords within your sub headers, in order to improve the odds that Google will deem your content relevant.

If you’re producing a long form piece of content, you can just treat each section as if it were its own blog post.

This means that you use the relevant keywords suggested by the Google Keyword planner within the H2 Header, for the relevant sections. Especially the keywords provided by the Ad Groups tab, in relation to a certain topic.

You’ll also want to focus on writing extensive product descriptions.

By making your product descriptions over 500 words you’ll help improve the odds of your product pages ranking for certain terms.

Of course when you do this, avoid padding out your product descriptions with unnecessary verbiage, as this can actually hurt your rankings, rather than help them.

Whilst it could do with a bit more ‘bolding,’ below is a great example of a product description from a snowboard store.

As you can see, it covers a lot of detail when discussing the product, and doesn’t shy away from providing specific, nitty gritty information.

Providing this level of detail is appreciated by both potential customers, of whom want to know as much as possible about a product  before buying – and search engines that want to display relevant results.

You should also pay close attention to site architecture.

You want to set things up so that your homepage, is never more than 3 three clicks away, from any other page on your site.

For most Ecommerce sites, it tends to be the case that the homepage is the most authoritative page on the entire site.

That’s because the more ‘clicks’ a page is away from the homepage, the less authoritative it will be deemed by Google.

As a result, it will benefit less from the authority that Google has given the homepage – authority of which can spread to other pages, if they’re not too many clicks away.

You should also pay close attention to how you name your images.

As you might’ve guessed, it helps to use the relevant keywords when naming your images. Google uses lots of factors to determine how relevant a page is – in  relation to specific keyword.

By giving your images ‘keyword-rich’ names, you improve the odds of Google recognizing your site as relevant.

Conclusion

In this guide we’ve taken an in depth look at what it takes to use SEO as a means of driving traffic to an Ecommerce store, in the hopes of boosting revenue.

If you’re new to SEO, you might need to read this guide again, so that you can fully appreciate everything that has been covered.

In any case, be prepared to adopt a long term mindset, when it comes to Ecommerce SEO.

While quick tricks might work in helping you boost your rankings in the short term – in the long term such tricks almost always results in a lot of wasted effort and time.

Google will punish you for being sneaky.

But if you stick to the overall strategy we’ve covered in this guide, and adopt the approach we discussed when it comes to finding the right keywords, you’ll be setting yourself up for long term success.

Yes, Ecommerce SEO can be hard work – and it can take a lot of time before you start to see results.

Though if you start now, in 6-12 months , you’ll be grateful that you took action when you did.

Best of luck!

The post Ecommerce SEO: The Definitive Guide to Drive More Traffic to Your Online Store appeared first on Serped.com.

Setting up a successful digital agency is tough.

But with the help of a well thought out marketing plan, the odds of success can be improved.  

In this post, we’re going to take a look at how you can create such a plan.

We’ll cover the fundamentals, as well as some of the common pitfalls you’ll want to avoid.

We’ll even review some of the additional details that can have a big impact on the success of your agency, such as the use of a business plan, for instance.

By the time you finish this post, you’ll have a clear sense of what needs to be done, both from a marketing and business standpoint, to ensure the your digital agency succeeds.

Let’s get started!

The Fundamentals of Creating a Digital Agency Marketing Plan

There are a lot of digital agencies out there – so it’s understandable if you’re feeling a little bit intimidated with all the competition.

But with the help of a reliable marketing plan, it becomes much easier to stand out.

So what does it actually take to create an effective marketing plan?

To begin with, you need to decide what kind of customer you want to work with.

You can do this by creating something known as a ‘Customer Persona’

Source

A Customer Persona is helpful, because it lets you gain clarity as to who you want to work with, as well as the challenges that this kind of customer is facing. You can then use that information as part of your marketing efforts.

Only 44% of B2B businesses use Customer Persona’s and so by creating one, you’ll already be putting yourself in a better position than the competition.

Gaining clarity on who you want your customer to be, also makes it easier to work out how you should go about reaching potential clients, in relation to your marketing efforts.

For example, you’ll now know which keywords you should target in an AdWords campaign or which audience you should be targeting in Facebook, when trying to reach your ideal customer.

Once you’ve decided on the kind of customer you want to go after, you also need to focus on the problem you want to solve.

By defining the specific problem your digital agency will solve, your marketing will produce better results. .

That’s because by taking this step, you’ll now have a clear benefit that you can use to persuade potential clients. Your marketing efforts will now pack more punch, since it becomes easier to promote the benefits of working with your agency.

Ideally, you want to be as specific as you can when defining the problem you solve. By doing so, it will seem as though you have a custom solution for a certain kind of customer, of whom operates in a certain kind of industry.

For instance, if you were going after dentists, they might have a problem generating appointment bookings.

If you know that’s a challenge they’re facing, you can position your agency as a company that can help solve that specific problem. You’ll communicate this in your marketing, by suggesting how your digital agency can improve the number of bookings a dentist can attract.

Taking the time to tailor your solution is vital, especially when you consider that 81% of businesses would pay a premium for a solution that is based on industry experience or is specific to a certain industry.

You then need to think about the the kinds of channels you want to use to market yourself.

Are you going to use PPC or are you going to rely on SEO and strategies that are more reliant on ‘Content Marketing?’

Once you know which channel you’re going to use, it becomes easier to create a plan tailored to that specific channel, of which will draw the attention of your ideal client, generate leads and produce the best possible ROI.

Should you Spend a Lot of Time on Creating a Digital Agency Business Plan?

Whilst this post is focused mainly on the topic of creating a marketing plan, it is still worth talking about the importance of a business plan for your digital agency.

Why?

Because for most companies, the marketing plan is just a section within a larger business plan – though it is still often one of the most crucial sections.

The problem, however, is that digital agencies operate in a very dynamic industry.

There is always a lot changing, in terms of the solutions that can be offered to clients (based on what changes there are in the marketing world) and how you should be pricing such solutions.

And so whilst a business plan can be helpful, you shouldn’t live and die by one. In fact, it’s because of the static nature of business plans, that some people even think that they’re a waste of time.

Such sentiments don’t seem that ridiculous either, when you look at the numbers.

For example, an author who studied entrepreneurs, found that 70% of those whom successfully sold their business or ‘IPO’d,’ did not have a business plan.

If Facebook came out with a new feature tomorrow, that would be a game changer for one of your clients, would you not offer it as a service because it’s not in your business plan?

Of course not!

And that’s the problem with a business plan – it can ‘box you in.’

Therefore, for the most part, you really just need to focus on answering the questions that were asked of you in ‘marketing plan section.’

Provided you know who your customer is and what you want to do for these customers, everything else should remain pretty fluid.

Should you Use Ad Agency Website Templates For Your Digital Agency?

As with all kinds of businesses, there’s a good chance that you’ll need a website sooner rather than later.

After all – where are you going to direct all of those potential clients that you’re trying to market to, right?

The problem, however, is that getting someone to design a website for you can be expensive – and it can also take a lot of time. Because of this, it can be a good idea to make use of a ‘website template’ instead.

Now, you might have reservations about using a template, but biting the bullet and using one might be best for you when starting out.

For one, using templates is cheaper.

After all, you can pick up an amazing template for under $100.

Site’s like Template Monster, can help you find the right template for your needs.

On top of that, templates can be installed and customized relatively quickly.

If you don’t consider yourself to be tech savvy, you can just hire someone from Upwork.com, and they’ll be able to get it done for you.

It’s worth mentioning that you shouldn’t really worry about someone else using your design.

With so many website templates in existence, there’s very little chance that your prospective clients will have ever seen the template you’re using, elsewhere.

And in any case…  Once your digital agency starts making some money, you can always hire a web design firm to help you create something that’s custom to your agency.

Conclusion

In this post, we’ve looked at how you can create an awesome marketing plan for your digital agency. We even touched on some other important, but related issues, such as how much time you should spend on building a business plan.

Either way – what you need to do now is take action. Use what you’ve learned in this post and make use of it. Only then will you be able to get the results you’re after, and benefit from all that we’ve covered in this post.

Don’t worry if about getting things wrong. Provided you just get moving, everything else can be corrected along the way.

Good luck!

The post How To Create A Marketing Plan For Your Digital Agency appeared first on Serped.com.